People have seen the Twitter pictures of Giants quarterback Eli Manning, standing in the flooded lobby of his Hoboken, N.J., apartment. It has been a surreal week, in so many ways. Some players have been in homes without power, taking detours driving to practice, having conversations with worried relatives and friends. Yet, Giants coach Tom Coughlin believes his team has the proper mindset to handle the unusual situation.

“I think not only will they be focused, I think the mission will be quite clear,” Coughlin said. “Trying to provide a few hours of enjoyment for so many that have been devastated.”

The Steelers also have been affected, making the decision to fly to New Jersey just a few hours prior to Sunday’s game. The New Jersey hotel where the Steelers planned to stay lost power. Instead of potentially displacing people with lost or damaged homes from another hotel, the Steelers will remain in Pittsburgh until Sunday morning and return home Sunday night.

Nobody can be certain what impact, if any, the circumstances leading up to Sunday will have on the game. Manning and Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger won’t be thinking about Hurricane Sandy once they step inside the huddle.

However, the New York Knicks enjoyed an emotional win Friday night, feeding off the crowd’s energy at Madison Square Garden during their victory against the Miami Heat. The Giants have a recent history of rising to special occasions. Sunday will be their next opportunity.

Who expected Dolphins (4-3) at Colts (4-3) to have possible playoff implications?

In HBO’s Hard Knocks during the preseason, the Dolphins came off as a team headed for a long season. Instead, Sunday’s matchup isn’t just about rookie quarterbacks Ryan Tannehill and Andrew Luck. It’s about two surprising teams who actually believe in playoff possibilities.

Tannehill has been listed as questionable for Sunday with left knee and thigh injuries. But whether it’s Tannehill or Matt Moore at quarterback, the Colts expect a tough test.

“You can look at the Dolphins and see that they are drinking the potion down there, they believe it,” Colts interim head coach Bruce Arians said.

The Colts also believe. Luck has been everything they expected and more, and veteran wide receiver Reggie Wayne has set an example for younger players.

“Everybody put us in the beginning in the power rankings at 32 and all that,” Wayne said. “That’s something we never believed in, we never fell for.”

Many expected Wayne to leave the Colts as a free agent during the offseason, but he re-signed.

“Me, Robert (Mathis), Dwight (Freeney), especially me and Rob, we came back,’’ Wayne said. “Our whole motto was we want to win now. We don’t have time to rebuild.”

The Colts and Dolphins are rebuilding, but they are also winning. As a result, the winner of Sunday’s game will have to be taken even more seriously.

Despite being 7-0, the Falcons don’t get the national hype the Cowboys do. But Atlanta will get a crack at the Cowboys on Sunday night. If Dallas loses and drops to 3-5, it’s not hard to envision the floor dropping out of Dallas’ season.

It gets harder and harder to like the Cowboys in big spots. Quarterback Tony Romo makes too many mistakes. Jason Garrett makes too many mistakes on the sidelines. The Giants are now the clear favorites in the NFC East, making the Cowboys a wild-card team at best. But in reality, the Cowboys are in serious trouble should they lose Sunday.

I’ve said it all along—Vick gives the slumping Eagles (3-4) their best chance to win. Putting rookie quarterback Nick Foles behind the Eagles’ shaky offensive line wouldn’t be fair to Foles, or to an Eagles team that still isn’t out of the playoff picture.

The Eagles visit the Saints on Monday night. New Orleans (2-5) has the worst defense in the league, giving up 474.7 yards per game. Moving the football against the Saints is even easier than finding good food in New Orleans. If Vick and the Eagles can’t get rolling Monday night, it’s another sign that Vick and Reid will soon be rolling out of town.

The Ravens (5-2) have not played well on the road this season (1-2). Their only road victory came at Kansas City. Not impressive, considering how bad the Chiefs are.

When we last saw the Ravens, they were being routed in Houston in Week 7. Now after a bye week, they visit the Browns on Sunday. Cleveland (2-6) is no pushover, despite its record. The Browns have a solid defense and can pound running back Trent Richardson at a suspect Ravens’ run defense.

I like the Ravens to win Sunday, but it will take a better performance than their recent road efforts.